She chuckled. “You make them sound like a group of girls and you’re the jock.”
This he did smile at again. She liked it a lot and wanted to see him doing it more often.
“You know Michele would love a private meeting with you,” she said.
Instantly, the smile was gone.
“Michele will not get a single meeting with me. Private or otherwise.”
“I think she has a crush.”
“Women that have crushes don’t go spreading their legs for every single dick that looks to sink it into a hole.”
Her cheeks heated. She’d never been spoken to like that before.
Michele was known for talking blatantly, and when men came to her, they always had something dirty to say to her.
Tessa was still a virgin at twenty years old and wasn’t about to sleep with some random guy to get rid of it. She wanted her first time to be special.
When her mother was alive, she’d actually talked to her about it. Her mother had thought it had to be special for a young woman’s first time, and there was no shame in wanting that either.
“Have I offended you?” Alonzo asked.
“Of course not.”
Hearing the dirty talk from his lips had shocked her a little, and what was more, she rather liked that he didn’t hold back.
Lifting up the mug of hot chocolate, she blew on the surface of the steaming mug, and took a sip.
It was delicious as she had no doubt it would be.
****
For the next week, each of their meetings was the same dance. Alonzo would be sitting there, waiting. Tessa would knock, and he noticed on days she really didn’t want to be near him, she’d only knock lightly.
He’d be listening for it though.
If she thought she was going to get out of this easily, she had another think coming.
Out of all of his life, the only part of his day he enjoyed so much was having her close to him.
Of course, it didn’t end the way he hoped either.
Tessa was never all over him, laughing at his jokes. She didn’t wear clothes to lure him in or say suggestive things. Whenever he did talk dirty, her cheeks would go a beautiful shade of pink that made him think about taking her in front of a mirror, to see if her entire body would blush at the things he wanted to do to her.
He had no doubt at all that her father wouldn’t have been happy with their union. Maxwell had been clear that he wanted his daughter to have a choice, a life away from the mafia.
Alonzo did have good intentions at the beginning, but like all good things, he’d discovered it was easier said than done.
He liked having her around his home, hearing her voice as she spoke softly to Caesar. The men, the guards, they respected her, and treated her with kindness.
Anyone who ever raised their voice to her had been dealt with by him. When she first moved to his home after her parents’ passing, one of the guards had shoved her hard after telling her she was fat and useless. The encounter had been brought to his awareness, and he’d seen the evidence of it on his security footage. That man was no longer working for him.
Rubbing the back of his neck, he poured himself another generous amount of whiskey and waited.
She always put Caesar to bed.
He had a camera in the nursery, and with a few taps on his cell phone, he brought up the feed. She stood beside the crib.
Caesar was getting too big for it and would soon need a bed.
It pissed him off that neither Jessica nor Benedict were anywhere in sight. Neither was Michele.
He didn’t go looking for her. Her lips were probably wrapped around a man’s cock right now. She had tried to gain his attention many times. Alonzo had no interest in her.
The only woman he wanted was right there in the nursery, caring for a child that was not her own. Her beautiful voice sang a tune to Caesar as the young boy fell asleep.
She would be a good mother one day. He had no doubt. Tessa was a nice woman, sweet and kind.
There was a knock at the door.
Gritting his teeth, he closed the screen and called for whoever it was to enter. They did so at risk of inciting his wrath. He wasn’t in a good mood whenever his stalking was interrupted.
“What is it?” he asked, calling out.
Seconds later, Cole entered his library, looking pissed.
“Why do I have a feeling I’m not going to like what you’re about to tell me?”
“Louis’s restaurant was just attacked. Rumor has it the cartels paid for the hit,” Cole said.
Running a hand down his face, he didn’t need to hear this shit. “We don’t have any beef with the cartels. That makes no sense.”